Computer Modeling and Simulation: Increasing Reliability by Disentangling Verification and Validation

Verificationand validation(VV such an entanglement makes it impossible to distinguish whether a coding error or the model’s general inadequacy to its target should be blamed in the case of a failure. I argue that a clear distinction between computer modelingand simulationhas to be made to disentangle verificationand validation. Drawing on that distinction, I suggest to associate modeling with verificationand simulation, which shares common epistemicstrategies with experimentation, with validation. To explain the reasons for their entanglement in practice, I propose a Weberian ideal–typical model of modelingand simulationas roles in practice. I examine an approach to mitigate the Duhem problem for verificationand validationthat is generally applicable in practice and is based on differences in epistemicstrategies and scopes. Based on this analysis, I suggest two strategies to increase the reliability of simulation results, namely, avoiding alterations of verified models at the validationstage as well as performing simulations of the same target system using two or more different models. In response to Winsberg’s claim that verificationand validationare entangled I argue that deploying the methodology proposed in this work it is possible to mitigate inseparability of V&V in many if not all domains where modelingand simulationare used.